By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 If you prescribe midazolam 5 mg routinely for terminal agitation then you are wrong. Do say – try to use a dose that works first time. Don’t say – but […]
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The ink is dry
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 Stop writing cries the invigilator Your time is done. Too much, never enough, Time once so immutable a concept Solid as air Softly blowing a breeze when A hurricane hits Moments […]
I have rather unusual feelings about death. I find it beautiful.
I didn’t think it strange, growing up around such a perspective. My mother insisted, when I was preschool age, she would want to die if she were severely disabled. We were at the shopping mall, looking for shoes. She said it as breezily as if asking, “Would you like an ice cream?” True to form, […]
IRS-SCPSC / NEWSLETTER – SPRING 2024
BMJ SPC Forum, in partnership with the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference, Japan, co-publishes the seasonal Newsletter The following is from the Spring issue of the International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer Newsletter that was published in April 2024 for IRS-SCPSC members. To view the […]
Prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDoC): Challenges for hospice staff
Authors: Prof Nikki Pease, Consultant Palliative Medicine, Velindre NHS Trust Dr Siwan Seaman, Medical Director and Consultant, Marie Curie Hospice Cardiff and the Vale Clare Elwell. Clare’s husband was in a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness and received end-of-life care following a best interests decision to discontinue CANH Prof Jenny Kitzinger, Professor of Communications Research, Coma & […]
Meet the Editors: Mark Taubert
As part of a new series, we will feature some of the people who work for BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. Meet the Editors: Professor Mark Taubert Hello Mark, where do you work? I work at Velindre University NHS Trust in Cardiff, for the cancer hospital and also University Hospital Llandough as a […]
Stories Worth Telling, Stories Worth Hearing. The Pursuit of Life: The Promise and Challenge of Palliative Care (Penn State Press, 2023)
After moving from Seattle to Dallas in 2015 to teach at Southern Methodist University, I decided to do something, well, important with some leftover funds. With a history of searing headaches, I wanted to introduce ancient authors who wrote in unvarnished ways about pain to modern medical practitioners who labor to palliate pain. People told […]
A national day highlighting the importance of Advance & Future Care Planning
Author: James Norris, founder of MyWishes Mount Vernon Hospital, Gate 3, Michael Sobell Hospice, Palliative Care Department, Northwood On the 8th May the first national Advance Care Planning day will take place in the United Kingdom. This day of action and awareness will highlight the importance of Advance Care Planning and encourage society to document, […]
Preparing for the apocalypse
By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 People are our sunrise and sunset and everything in between. Even if you’re not a morning person. It has always been a peculiar and wonderful quirk that when reading of famous […]
A Different Approach to Advance & Future Care Planning DNACPR Conversations for Older People Living with Frailty – A Quality Improvement Project for NHS Wales’ Advance & Future Care Planning Strategy Group
Author Details Laura Ellis-Lane B.Sc. Physiotherapy; M.Sc. Advanced Clinical Practice; PGC Falls and Osteoporosis; Professional Doctorate Candidate. Consultant Therapist – Frailty / Older Peoples’ Rehabilitation , Care of the Elderly – East Integrated Health Community – Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Wales, United Kingdom Dr. Wendy Wilkinson B.H.Sc. Occupational Therapy; M.H.Sc Occupational Therapy; Professional Doctorate; […]